The Swing
by LGTracy
Summary: Bayverse-CoM/Ellieworld plotline. In honor of the American holiday of Father's Day, I decided to share the first father's day between Ellie and Optimus. Hope you enjoy, and Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there, of blood AND heart.


_**Disclaimer: **__Transformers is the property of Hasbro and whoever they've sold the rights to. No infringement is intended or implied. No financial gain has been received._

**A/N:**_ It occurred to me that Optimus Prime would make an excellent father, and as such, he'd most likely want to see to his offspring's social health as well as physical, mental and financial. That's why this story starts out with Ellie's flashback; he took her to the park because he wanted her to socialize with other humans. Of course, it didn't quite turn out the way he had hoped. And now to the subject of this little story; Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there, whether by blood or heart. As always, let me know what I did wrong and what I could've done better. Tracy_

The Father's Day Swing

It had been exactly four days since Robert Epps had given her her first ever real Birthday gift. Ever since then, she had been fascinated by the human custom and was completing her research on the traditional reasons. Quickly, she catalogued and dismissed several occasions before she settled on the perfect one.

"Hmm, so I wonder what dad would want for father's day," Ellie thought aloud. Replaying several memories, she recalled a rather vivid one when he had taken her to a park and was watching several fathers playing with their children. She remembered the longing feeling from their bond as he watched a little girl being pushed on a swing.

"Higher daddy!" she would scream, laughing when her father would comply.

"Why are you sad, Dad?" she remembered asking the Peterbilt's grill.

"I am sad that there are many things I simply will be unable to do with you because of our size difference," he had answered honestly.

"Yeah, but there's a lot more that you'll be able to do with me because of it," she had reasoned. "Besides, mass comes and goes, but love is forever."

He had chuckled at her statement before he popped open his passenger side door for her to climb into.

"I bet it'll work," she said aloud. "And I bet I can give him a bunch of gifts at the same time too."

Making up her mind, she resolutely comm'd her partners in crime for their help, followed by Grapple for his expertise.

Strut weary, that was exactly how Optimus Prime would describe his current feeling. He would give just about anything to lock himself in his quarters and recharge for a month, followed by a good, yearlong hibernation in the library going through all of those glorious books. Coming up on the gate to their estate, he shook off his exhaustion and turned on his blinker to signal his turn. Jazz shot past him and roared through the gate before Hound had it completely opened. He could only sigh through his vents at the action before he drove through after the saboteur.

"Report, Hound," he ordered as he stopped by the gatehouse.

"All's quiet Optimus. Just have a request from Ellie that you meet her in the rear garden."

"About?"

"It's Ellie," was the vague answer. "You know how she is," he continued with a decided grin.

"Am I going to regret this?" the prime asked cautiously. He did know his daughter, and the fact one of his unit commanders seemed to be willing to go along with her narrowed the possibilities to two; she was planning on playing a practical joke on him that his mechs thought would be amusing, if not overly embarrassing, or she was trying to surprise him with something. Given Hound's personality, he was inclined to believe the latter, and that didn't always work out quite how she had planned.

"I don't think so, but you never can tell.

"Go on boss, your daughter is waiting," Hound suggested as he stepped back inside the guardhouse.

Turning his processors to the strange behavior, Optimus pulled away from the gate, followed by Ironhide, and headed to the main entrance to his home. Transforming into his bipedal mode, he manipulated the locking mechanism and walked through the front door. "Now what are you planning?" he sent through their personal com channel.

"Come find out," she teased.

"Not even a hint?"

"Why? You're going to find out about twelve seconds after you get here."

"Smart aft," he sent with a chuckle.

"Like father like daughter," she teased right back.

He laughed aloud at her response and was still chuckling when he opened the rear door to the garden. In confusion, he looked around at the way the garden had been decorated; a sign that read "Happy Father's Day," was suspended by two bunches of helium filled Mylar balloons while a banquet of Cybertronian foods and a small plate of human food was positioned beneath them, red and blue streamers fluttered from several anchor points on the house and were draped over the plants in the garden as Blaster played a mix of his favorite music.

"What? What is all of this?" he asked dumbfounded.

"Happy Father's Day!" Ellie shouted as she came running and jumped up onto his chassis. Quickly, he placed his hand beneath her and scooped her up to optic level.

"Father's Day? Please explain Urielle," he asked as he frantically searched the internet for what she was talking about.

"Well, you did say I needed to learn more about my human heritage, and since I am American, I concentrated my search on American holidays, especially after Bobby gave me that birthday gift a couple months ago.

"Anyway, father's day is an American holiday celebrated on the third Sunday of June, that's tomorrow, that is celebrated by giving gifts to the father figures in your life as a token of gratitude for everything they do. Since you're my dad, that means I get to give you stuff to show you and the whole world that I love you," she finished breathlessly as she threw herself against his nose in an awkward hug.

"Mm, Urielle, you don't have to give me anything. I know you love me, I can feel it through our bond every moment of every day. Gifts are unnecessary," he assured her as he nuzzled against her.

"Yeah I know, but they're still nice to get," she answered logically. "Besides, I'm not the only one you're a dad to."

"Oh?"

Ellie nodded emphatically. "Yeah. Bumble, both twins, and even Jukes think of you like a father figure. We all worked really hard on your gifts too."

"I had no idea," he started, humbled. "Gifts?"

"Yup! We all got you our own gifts, but we went together to get you a big one too. It's up on the hill by the ancient oak."

"Then let's go see it, shall we?" he suggested as he started in the appropriate direction.

Intrigued, he got less than fifty yards from the garden when he stopped short at what he saw behind the stand of trees; sitting near a giant oak and in a large meadow surrounded by various hardwood trees sat a giant bench swing. He watched as Bumblebee, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, Skids and Mudflap and Jukes all scrambled off the bench as he approached.

"Happy Mech Creator's Day!" they chorused.

Touched at the gesture, he mutely touched each one in gratitude before he turned back to the swing.

"It's a swing," Ellie pointed out. "It even has a smaller swing where us littler ones can sit with you. Grapple even said it can hold up to three mechs of your mass before it reaches its tensile limits."

"You called him 'Grapple.' Have you two finally decided to get along?" he asked hopefully of his daughter.

"That's the first part of my gift for you; a determined effort to not get annoyed by him. At least, for today and tomorrow. After that, no guarantees. I even was super polite to him while he was designing it."

Optimus laughed at the obvious pride of his daughter. Of all the beings in the universe, he had never seen two who seemed to rub each other the wrong way, as the humans say, as thoroughly as Grapple and Urielle. "I will take what I can get in that regard."

"See? The little swing on the back is where Jukes and us human types can sit while you sit on the main seat so we're more head level with each other," she pointed out.

"Shall we try it out?" he asked. At her emphatic nod, he walked over to the swing and sat down. Cautiously, he allowed it to take more of his weight incrementally until he was completely supported. He leaned back and analyzed the structure for weak points before he would set Urielle on the elevated swing by his shoulder.

"We even had Boney and Ratchet and First Aid and Silverbolt all sit in it at the same time to test it. Of course, we didn't tell them they were testing it, cause then they wouldn't have sat in it," Ellie confided.

Optimus chuckled and reached down to pick up Jukes to set him on the elevated bench swing as well, then reached over to gather Mudflap and Skids onto his lap. "I bet. So how did you get them to test it?"

"We tricked 'im," Sunstreaker announced honestly.

"Why does that not surprise me," Optimus chuckled as he motioned the other three to sit beside him. He noted that there was enough room for them all to sit, even if it was a bit snug, and still have enough space to not scratch anyone's paint.

"You's wanna know what we's did?" Skids asked hopefully.

"Yes, I would like to know. Who did what?"

"Sunny and I made the metal flowers that look like they're climbing it. We decided to use native Earth climbing roses," Sideswipe started.

"And we also added Elita blooms throughout," Sunstreaker finished. "Figured we'd combine them given the nature of our circumstance."

"Yeah, and in honor of Ellie's and your relationship," Sideswipe added.

Touched, Optimus studied the metalwork more closely; among the stainless steel roses, the intricate curls of the bronze Elita bloom petals were almost hidden among the copper leaves, perfectly portraying the legendary shyness of the flowers. "It is truly beautiful. Thank you both.

"So, what did you do?" he addressed Bumblebee.

"Mostly the design; I would illustrate what Ellie had in mind for Grapple and then he made it practical enough for Cybertronian use."

"It is a brilliant design. Thank you."

"We's tested it!" Mudflap volunteered before Optimus could ask.

"Yup! We's twin-proofed it. Ain't nuffin' gonna knock this puppy over," Skids was sure to add.

The prime laughed aloud at the expression on the smaller twins' faces. "That is good to know. Thank you both as well.

"What did you do Jukes?"

"I located and purchased the materials that adhered to Grapple's requirements for this project. We all aided in the actual construction."

"Thank you. All of you, it is truly beautiful. I am deeply touched by the gesture.

"Would I be correct in assuming that this was your idea in the first place?" he turned to his daughter.

"Yes. Do you really like it dad?"

"Could I lie to you?"

"I guess not. So you really like it."

"Yes. It is a most thoughtful gift. Even though 'mass comes and goes,' as someone once pointed out, this takes the differences into account," he assured as he rubbed a finger along her leg.

"We's got's yous another gift!" Skids interrupted.

"Oh? What might that be?"

He made the equivalent of clearing his throat before his voice joined with his brother's as they recited their "Mech Creator's Day Pledge;" "We, Skids and Mudflap, do saul-ohm-lee swear to stop fighting each other from now until the end of Mech Creator's Day."

Optimus roared with laughter, "That is one of the best gifts I could ever hope to receive. Thank you," he was finally able to say in between chuckles.

"We's made you a coop-on for another hour to be used at your con-veen-yence too," Mudflap announced as he handed over a silver piece of metal that looked like it was once a tray for a silver tea service.

"Oh dear. Um, thank you," Optimus was quick to say when he recognized it as belonging to the tea service set Mike was fond of using for human guests. Thankfully, it was only defaced on the bottom, so he flagged a message in his processors to give it back to Mike before he could miss it. He was certain he'd be using it the day after the holiday anyway.

"Sunny and I created a Cybertronian garden behind the old garage," Sideswipe quickly interrupted, sensing his leader's unease.

"We tried to capture the most common vegetation in and around Iacon," Sunstreaker added. "We know that's where you're from so thought you'd appreciate it."

"Thank you. That is truly thoughtful."

"I added some books to the library," Bumblebee volunteered. "The complete technological and mechanical history of Earth from before Megatron was discovered until we landed."

"Thank you Bumblebee. I can already feel my processors humming in anticipation at reading them."

"My gift is in your room," Ellie admitted quietly. "I hope you'll like it."

"It is from you, sparkette, of course I'll love it.

"Now, there is so much more here to see, I find that I am torn between sitting here with all of you and getting back to the party."

"Ellie hasn't eaten yet today. I suggest we go back to the party," Jukes supplied helpfully.

"Aw Jukes! You tattle tale! This is Father's Day, not worry about your daughter day," she lamented.

"Urielle, I would not be worthy of the title if I did not worry about you. We will go back to the party then," he decided as he gently lowered the smaller twins and offered his hand to his daughter and her guardian.

"Oh! One more gift we all decided to give you," she diverted as he carried her back to the garden. When he glanced down at her, she continued, "We all decided to give you the rest of the day and all of tomorrow off. You get the whole house all to yourself tonight and tomorrow to do whatever you want; recharge, library, dance around in your socks, whatever."

Optimus chuckled, "Risky Business?"

"An infomercial selling movies that made stars," she replied honestly.

His optics twinkled merrily as they rejoined the party.

Optimus shut the door to his private quarters as much to shut out the silence of the house as to ensure his privacy. It had been a long, albeit fun, afternoon. The only thing he had on his processors at the moment was a full recharge. To that effect, he tiredly walked toward his berth and stopped short when he saw the small leather bound book laying there with a red and blue bow tied around it.

"This must be the gift Urielle said she put in my quarters," he said aloud. Gently, he picked up the human sized tome and gingerly opened the bow. Curious, he opened the book with every intention of just downloading it and studying it when he awoke. The first thing he noticed was a letter addressed to him in his daughter's handwriting.

"Dad,

"Found this when we were going through the tower. Thought you might be able to figure it out.

"Happy Father's Day to the best dad in the universe.

"Love,

"Urielle."

He folded the letter again carefully and opened the book to the first page. He collapsed onto his berth when an English translation of the waterfall cave appeared on the aged paper.

Optimus Prime didn't get the full recharge he promised himself until late the next morning.


End file.
